Blatter wants Premiership cut

Pepe LeFrits

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has held informal talks which could see the Premiership reduced to 18 teams and FA Cup replays being scrapped.
Blatter would ideally like to see domestic leagues down to 16 clubs.

"You have an FA Cup and League Cup and still the old tradition of replays in the FA Cup," said Blatter.

"This was mentioned in a meeting with the Football Association and Premier League. If there were no cup replays you can have 18 teams."


He added: "We want to make sure there are not too many dates for national competitions.

"We should have between 43 and 47 dates for domestic football. Players should not play more than 60 games a year."

For once I agree with him. Premiership teams play too many games, i don't think teams should be continually forced to rest players for the bigger competitions because there are too many games. Teams wouldn't need as much strength in depth either.

therecklessone

I can see it happening, but in conjunction with the introduction of a Premier 2 League.

Prem will have 16.
Prem 2 will have 16.

Then probably 3 Football League divisions, with many of the teams towards the bottom having to go semi-pro.

There'll be war no doubt, but the English game needs to be reformed.

Oh, and Celtic and Rangers will be playing in England by the end of the decade. If the reorganisation happens as above, they'll probably be entered in Prem 2 competition, and have to fight their way up.

mr_angry

Blatter has wanted that for ages. 19 of the 20 Premiership clubs have to agree on that matter in order for it to happen though, and I can't really see any of the smaller teams voting themselves out of the super-rich Premiership, can you?

Also, the two strongest leagues in the world, the English and the Spanish, both have 20 teams. Coincidence?

I think there should be less European football (European Cup only for league winners, all knockout, etc.), and we should actually go BACK to FA Cup replays, extra-time, and penalty shootouts. European football is part, if not all, of the problem, rather than the solution to the problem.

Villain

Sounds like trouble to me, I'd back no Cup Replays and teh league cup to put to 1 leg semi's.

The gap between the Prem and Div1 is too big to have another 2 top teams seperated from the top flight

uberwolf

Originally posted by mr_angry


Also, the two strongest leagues in the world, the English and the Spanish, both have 20 teams. Coincidence?

big supposition so no inference can be drawn IMO

smiaras

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_blank_

Blatter might have a point about the EPL being too large with 20 teams.

In my opinion, competition would be better in a league where there are no very below average teams, for example Wolves, Leicester and Portsmouth, perhaps even Leeds, but their plight is a freak anyway.

If a Premier 2 league was introduced, which also had 16 teams, we could see teams like Sheff Utd, Norwich, and other potential Premier clubs competing at a better standard.

This would also mean that clubs would not be voting themselves out of a Premier League set-up.

As for the question of the Old Firm going to play in the English Leagues, I would be dead set against any such move.

To accommadate this, it would mean that 2 teams from the top 32 in the English game would have to forfeit a place in Premier 2, this simply is not fair.

When Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham joined the English League set up from their own base in Wales, they had to start at the bottom. There is no reason why rules should be waived for the two strongest teams in Scotland.

Agreed that any opinions expressed by the esteemed Mr. Blatter should be taken with a pinch of salt.

As an aside though, I reckon Club football will come even more to the fore in the next decade, perhaps twenty years. When the World Cup(The International One) was first played, there was major opposition worldwide, just as we see now with the World Club Cup.

The trend has already started of top players, who should be at the peak of their international careers, retiring from the international game to concentrate on their club football( Alan Shearer and Roy Keane being the two that spring to mind, Dean Kiely too ).

However, maybe these comments should be in a different thread.

smiaras

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watman

If these new changes go ahead the rich will get richer and the poor poorer.
If they want less games , cut the champions league down - there are far too many poor teams involved
In relation to the FA Cup , i reckon when the draw is made , the lowest team (position wise) gets option of whether to play home or away .. This will help teams lower down financially - Man Utd should be able to beat Doncaster , home or away so there should not be a problem
Celtic and Rangers should start at the bottom and work there way up .. If they can get 40,000 plus to see them hammer Partick Thistle then they ll get 40,000 to see them hammer Boston Utd ,

therecklessone

Just as an aside, at what level did Derry City get to compete when they joined the FAI?

PHB

Europe is the best thing about football imo.

The more matchs I see between Man United, Arsenal, Real, Milan, Inter, Juve, Bayern Munich, Lyon, Monaco, Ajax, Chelsea, and some teams I'm surly forgetting, the better.

I'm still strongly in favour of a European super league, but having it run in conjuction to the premier leagues and eliminating the Champions Cup. I think a league would be way way cooler

knobbles

Originally posted by watman
If they want less games , cut the champions league down - there are far too many poor teams involved

...won't happen, there is massive money involved.
The two group phases had to be scrapped but even when it was many of the bigger clubs weren't happy. I think its current format gets the balance right.

Healio

what does every1 think of this:
Scrap the league cup and have a cup competition between northern irish league, eircom league, scottish league and english league clubs for the european place. just give an opinion on the idea as a whole i.e. dont go into technicalities.

knobbles

Originally posted by mr_angry
Blatter has wanted that for ages. 19 of the 20 Premiership clubs have to agree on that matter in order for it to happen though, and I can't really see any of the smaller teams voting themselves out of the super-rich Premiership, can you?

...as a fan of an erratic yet ever present top flight team, I'd have to agree.
18 teams maybe but only if 2 dropped, maybe a play-off for the 3rd last team.
3 dropping from 16 would certainly be harsh.

Also, the two strongest leagues in the world, the English and the Spanish, both have 20 teams. Coincidence??[/QUOTE]

...yes coinicidence as uberwolf suggested

I think there should be less European football (European Cup only for league winners, all knockout, etc.), [/QUOTE]

....disagree, the Champions League's current format with the top 4 Premiership teams rewarded really spices things up for the teams that can't compete for the title. In the last decade or two, it's usually been or 2/3 horse race for the title. These days all teams in the top half have a lot to fight for far into the season.

and we should actually go BACK to FA Cup replays, extra-time, and penalty shootouts.[/QUOTE]

...talkin about finals here? mmm, i dunno, not a good idea with international tournaments every 2nd year in June. Personally, I don't think the round to round replays should be dropped. Again, I think the current format gets the balance right.

Aliminator

this is ridiculous!
the Champs league has already been destroyed. 4 less games a year. and after waiting so long for the last-16 round, the matches were not of the usual par.

true, with a reduced premiership there could be a winter break. but still, results like wolves 1 - 0 Utd. wouldn't happen because wolves wouldn't be around.

and Replays etc. are the best part of the FA cup.

it's individuals like Blatter that destroyed Leeds. now he's looking to destroy the whole of european football. how did he ever get elected.....

football is just going down the pan. damn business men and administrators taking over the beautiful game.

BKtje

I dont like the idea of a reduced premiership as even the lowly clubs manage to beat or pull something off against the top sides.

Also if a prem2 was introduced wouldnt it just become the 1st division with regards to tv rights and such? Means instead of 20 clubs making money it would just be 16?

I dunno, whenever Blatter opens his mouth you seem to wanna throttle the chap.
What is his fascination with England anyway?

The Muppet

The smaller teams are struggling enough without having gate receipts from 4 matches taken from them. Unless its forced on them I can,t see it happening

smiaras

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therecklessone

Originally posted by Aliminator
this is ridiculous!
the Champs league has already been destroyed. 4 less games a year. and after waiting so long for the last-16 round, the matches were not of the usual par.



football is just going down the pan. damn business men and administrators taking over the beautiful game.

Do you see a contradiction here? The Champions League is a construct of those "damn business men" as you so eloquently put it. Surely a move away from the league structure towards a knock-out phase should be welcomed as a move towards the more traditional style of the original European Cup. Maybe removing the league runners-up (and 3rd and 4th place teams as well) from the equation might restore some of the lustre of the beautiful game.

therecklessone

Originally posted by B-K-DzR
I dont like the idea of a reduced premiership as even the lowly clubs manage to beat or pull something off against the top sides.

Also if a prem2 was introduced wouldnt it just become the 1st division with regards to tv rights and such? Means instead of 20 clubs making money it would just be 16?

Doesn't have to. Reform of the game should be in the interests of the game, not the big 4/5 clubs. What happened to Leeds could happen to any club in the premiership (bar Man U and Liverpool I believe, primarily on their history and ability to sell themselves abroad) so even the Arsenal's and Chelsea's of the game need to be careful. So organise the 2 leagues properly and it could work well. Below the prem/prem 2 level I'd expect most clubs to go semi-pro, but to get financial support from the top two leagues.

On an aside, I'd also introduce wage caps into the European game.

BKtje

Tbh im all for wage caps bit i cant see it happening.

_blank_

Wage caps would have to be implemented by UEFA or FIFA, not by the individual FA's.

Say if the FA introduced a Wage cap of something GBP60,000, no players would play in the Prem League, they'd all feck off to earn GBP60,001 in other leagues where wage caps don't exist.

However, I can't see the EU allowing wage caps, so it's a non starter.

Not too long ago players DID have wage caps, and they were only allowed earn paltry sums, it ended in player strikes, and they got the wage cap demolished. I'm sure none of them envisaged what has happened now.

smiaras

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therecklessone

Originally posted by seansouth
Wage caps would have to be implemented by UEFA or FIFA, not by the individual FA's.

Say if the FA introduced a Wage cap of something GBP60,000, no players would play in the Prem League, they'd all feck off to earn GBP60,001 in other leagues where wage caps don't exist.

However, I can't see the EU allowing wage caps, so it's a non starter.

Not too long ago players DID have wage caps, and they were only allowed earn paltry sums, it ended in player strikes, and they got the wage cap demolished. I'm sure none of them envisaged what has happened now.

Isn't it funny though that the home of capitalism/free trade (the US!) can have a system like the college draft for their own version of football, to help level the field a little...

Or am I totally misunderstanding how that works?

Ping Chow Chi

the US do not have religation or promotion though (at least in the NFL) which makes the whole system very different

_blank_

Originally posted by therecklessone
Isn't it funny though that the home of capitalism/free trade (the US!) can have a system like the college draft for their own version of football, to help level the field a little...

Or am I totally misunderstanding how that works?

It's a bad system though...why bother putting time and effort into supporting any team if you know that at the end of the season, if they did badly, they will have the chance to snap up the best young talent?

Carlisle United signing Arjen Robben...give me a break!

I'd much rather see a team the likes of Charlton go through a building phase, then reap the rewards later, rather than be given an artificial helping hand.

Football is about players, and team building, and managers awareness in the transfer markets, and clubs being able to afford the very best talent.

If Charlton do well in the next couple of seasons, they might qualify for the Champions League, get some extra cash, and not have to sell their best players, such as Scott Parker. I'm not saying they'll ever be able to cmpete financially with the likes of Chelsea and United, even Arsenal struggle to do that, but they could be there or thereabouts for a few seasons yet, especially if they keep Curbishly in charge.

Teams need to earn their place at the top, not be handed it on a plate.

smiaras

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